West Looks Forward After Explosion

May 17, 2013 7:53 p.m. ET

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Andrea Whitlatch pointed out the damage to West Rest Haven nursing home in West, Texas, where she used to work as a nurse. She was working on the night of April 17, when an explosion at West Fertilizer Co. shattered the nursing home's windows and ceilings.
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Ms. Whitlatch received her last paycheck May 2, as the nursing home -- the town's largest private employer -- struggles with how to move forward in the face of an enormous rebuilding challenge.
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West Rest Haven, which employed 153 people in West, more than anyone except the school district, is locally owned by 280 shareholders. The owners have vowed to rebuild in town, said Rose Ann Morris, a shareholder who has worked at the home for 29 years, currently as its chief administrator.
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A graduation portrait hangs on a wall of a patient's room at the nursing home. Many of the home's residents were injured in the April 17 explosion.
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The explosion also leveled an apartment complex across the street from the nursing home, shown here on May 7.
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A note on a calendar at the office of the West fair grounds.
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Larry Kubacak, 60, a West Rest Haven resident who now lives at a nursing home outside of Waco, said he can't wait to return to West Rest Haven. Here, he played the accordion at his new residence.
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Mary Whiteley sorted through donations being stored in the game room at The Atrium nursing home in Waco. 'We can't even play bingo here now,' said Ms. Whiteley.
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Helen Chambers, 87, a former resident of West Rest Haven nursing home, was escorted to her new room at The Atrium nursing home in Waco by the facility's marketing director, Missy Alford.
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Workforce Solutions for the Heart of Texas, a state agency helping to find work for the roughly 200 West residents who lost jobs in the blast, set up a mobile home in West that provided computers and videoconferencing for job seekers. Shown, Kerri Honaker, center, helped Marselina Silba, foreground, with her job search. Ms. Silba used to work at West Rest Haven.
Brandon Thibodeaux for The Wall Street Journal…